These are statements from the novel “ Soucouyant ” by David Chariandy that condenses the message of the novel. In general, the novel illustrates “ burying ” non merely as a unwellness in the signifier of dementedness but it besides shows the cultural significance of “ burying ” in the lives of the storyteller, his female parent and the other characters in the narrative. In a cultural context, burying in the novel means go forthing behind one ‘s history and tradition ; non retrieving the injuries and agonies one has experienced ; wipe outing from memory one ‘s dark yesteryear experiences ; and turning back on 1 ‘s errors and wickednesss in the yesteryear as depicted by the characters in the novel.
At the beginning, the narrative focuses on the life of the storyteller ‘s female parent named Adele who is enduring from early oncoming or pre-senile dementedness. The storyteller here is considered a extravagant boy who has run away from his place but who “ longed for her as any boy would for his female parent, even so a scaring a female parent as she had become ” ( 33 ) . However, after two old ages, he went back “ to remain with Mother though I have n’t been invited to remain ” ( 9 ) . It seemed, as the narrative progresses, that the storyteller wants to understand her female parent ‘s yesteryear so he can besides understand his ain beginnings. So, he tried to inquire inquiries from his female parent who “ ne’er intentionally explained to me her past, but I learned anyhow ” ( 23 ) . She told him “ over and over once more of her brush with the animal [ a soucouyant ] ” ( 136 ) . A soucouyant harmonizing to what is written in the back screen of the book is “ an evil spirit in Caribbean folklore ” . The storyteller wishes to corroborate this brush but “ Mother ne’er explained any of this to me ” ( 136 ) . The narrative is interspersed with spots and pieces of the female parent ‘s yesteryear as fragments of her memory semen and travel. Some of the narratives about Adele are besides narrated by Meera, the nurse. The characters who are Adele, the storyteller ‘s female parent and the storyteller who has remained nameless throughout the narrative have engaged in episodes of forgetting and retrieving which has something to make with their cultural heritage.
The cultural significance of “ burying ” in “ Soucouyant ” is foremost of all, important to Adele who is a Trinidadian immigrant who experienced the worst things in her yesteryear. On her portion, “ forgetting ” includes go forthing behind her history and her traditions as she leaves behind her place of birth, Trinidad. It besides means wipe outing from her memory her dark yesteryear. The storyteller Tells of her, “ she saw unhappiness and anxiousness. She saw force. She saw war. ” ( 161 ) . There was besides a clip when she experienced being “ dragged like a doll toward the Gatess of the base, back toward the small town and the life that awaits ” ( 192 ) . She has suffered a batch, non to advert the favoritism during those times because she is “ dark ” or a “ coloured ” adult female. In these cases, burying seems to be the “ most originative and vital thing ” ( 32 ) she could make with her dark yesteryear. The phrase “ a way so old that none could retrieve its beginnings ” ( 45, 136, 173 & A ; 190 ) has been repeatedly mentioned in the novel. This “ way ” may really good typify what Adele has gone through. She tried to bury “ the weightiness of a history that could n’t go forth. She resolved within herself non to retrieve those dark events in her life once more. She has become so good at burying that this could hold likely affected her ain memory which turned out to develop into dementedness. The storyteller is non certain what truly caused her early onset dementedness but what the storyteller remembers is that:
Long ago, she began to bury. It started with ordinary things. Shoping lists and formulas, coach alteration and nest eggs cards, pens for jotting down those family undertakings that ever manage to steal off. But so Mother began to bury in more originative ways. She began to bury names and topographic points, ends and significances. She began to bury the Torahs of linguistic communication and the paths to redemption and the proper things to make with one ‘s organic structure. She began to pardon herself from the universe we knew ( 12 ) .
Similarly, the storyteller asks these inquiries about her female parent: “ Was this a turning point in her life? The minute when she foremost realized that something was incorrect with her? That something more serious than cutter or bracelets had gone losing? That so many other things were acquiring lost? This adult male beside her, for case. Her hubby. She knows his name, of class. It ‘s Roger. But what else does she cognize? ” ( 78 ) .
Similarly, “ forgetting ” , for Adele means no longer retrieving the injuries and painful experiences she had in the yesteryear. With her dementedness, she would certainly non retrieve those strivings and injuries in her secret yesteryear once more. She has erased memories in her head and the storyteller says: “ She tells me now that she does n’t understand that thing called memory. She does n’t understand its kernel or dynamic ” ( 166 ) .
It is merely ironical that in the yesteryear and even in the present, there are things that Adele can still retrieve. This is apparent in what the storyteller has said that: “ She ne’er forget. But I do n’t retrieve it. Not even a small spot. I remember something else from that trip, though ” ( 196 ) . This shows that Adele ‘s memory is even better than the writer ‘s. This besides goes to demo that Adele somehow uses selective memory and forgetting. Pleasant and good things are remembered while unpleasant, traumatic experiences are better left forgotten in obscureness.
Aside from Adele, the storyteller himself has tried burying his yesteryear. He tries to bury what happened to his female parent and his male parent by running off from his place to another topographic point. His female parent “ staggered into forgetfulness. She wandered the streets of our vicinity and overturned people ‘s refuse bins ” ( 18 ) . While his male parent became “ progressively quiet and withdrawn, [ aˆ¦ ] He stopped pass oning to anyone, including Mother and me ” ( 28 ) . The storyteller describes the topographic point where he stayed: “ The metropolis was for me a good topographic point of burying. I found my namelessness in a series of rent-by-the-week suites, in under-the-counter occupations as a dish washer and holiday flower-seller ” ( 30 ) . Yes, he was able to bury those things that happened to his household but merely for a small piece. This is because, he subsequently forgot “ to bury ” and he remembered everything once more which leads him back to his female parent and to his hometown. For the storyteller, “ forgetting ” means repenting of his errors and doing damagess by populating his life anew and by taking attention of his female parent.
When he goes back to his place he tried to understand his roots, his history. He tries to turn out that: “ Your history is your blood and flesh ” ( 137 ) . Though his female parent is person “ so wholly unwilling to acknowledge that she has forgotten me ” ( 8 ) . He tries to “ conceive of his female parent ‘s life before it all slips off into darkness. ” Therefore, he attempts to pull his female parent to a conversation to assist him cognize the truth about his female parent ‘s childhood and what could hold caused her dementedness. He asks her inquiries such as: “ You mean you do n’t retrieve, Mother? ” ( 12 ) ; “ Do n’t you retrieve, Mother? ” ( 15 ) ; “ Do you retrieve, Mother? ” ( 92 ) ; “ Can you retrieve it now, Mother? Can you state me this last thing? Today, before I go? ” ( 194 ) . However, with his series of inquiries, his Mother does n’t explicate anything to him. This is because “ She told, but she ne’er explained or deciphered. She ne’er put the narratives together. She ne’er could or wanted to make so. It is merely through the aid of Miss that he is able to understand the inside informations of his female parent ‘s life. And he is able to corroborate of his female parent ‘s life when he said that “ it is possible to populate with about no memories ” ( 54 ) .
In add-on to Adele and the storyteller, Meera, the nurse is besides seeking to conceal something and to bury her yesteryear. Although, it is non rather obvious in the narrative, her feelings became crystalline upon seeing her female parent. Meera incredibly asks the storyteller “ You fetched my female parent? ” ( 124 ) while her female parent supports on naming her name. She was neither enthusiastic nor happy to see her ain female parent. The storyteller besides tells her: “ I do n’t care, Meera. It does n’t count to me. I merely wanted to cognize more about you. I thought we could speak about things ” ( 125 ) . This leads to the decision that Meera is non sharing about her life. She is likely concealing something and is seeking to bury the memories wholly. It was subsequently found out that “ Meera used to zigzag name the roving lady ” ( 159 ) . “ Many times, Meera ‘s calls were doltishly commonplace. Giggling petitions to talk to Oliver Clothesoff [ aˆ¦ ] ” ( 160 ) . For Meera, “ forgetting ” means turning back on yesteryear errors and wickednesss and rectifying her errors. Finally, she becomes the nurse of the “ mobile lady ” who used to be the topic of her “ tender calls. ”
For Adele, the storyteller and Meera, “ forgetting ” gives them a manner of get awaying from their abhorrent yesteryear. It has its advantages but it besides has its disadvantages. The storyteller confirms this through a quotation mark: “ During our lives, we struggle to bury. And it ‘s foolish to presume that forgetting is wholly a bad thing. Memory is a contusion still stamp ” ( 32 ) . Human existences sometimes need to bury particularly those unpleasant, traumatic experiences that happened in one ‘s life. But it should non maintain one from traveling on to the hereafter like what happened to the storyteller and to Meera.
The novel ‘s rubric which is “ Soucouyant ” refers to an evil spirit in the signifier of a vampire-like old adult female who sucks blood from her victims. A soucouyant is a monster worth “ forgetting ” because it symbolizes something disagreeable or atrocious. In add-on, Adele ‘s brush of a “ soucouyant ” symbolizes everything in her life that is horrid, unsavory, atrocious, hostile and unkind which are worth “ forgetting ” . Indeed, “ Soucouyant ” is competently described as “ a novel of forgetting. ” However, contrary to the rubric, the novel “ Soucouyant ” is deserving reading and retrieving.
